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Louisiana could ease concerns over the looming rate increases under the National Flood Insurance Program by creating a state-run insurer that offers flood coverage, said John Kennedy, the state's treasurer. The state has such companies providing property insurance and workers' compensation coverage, and these firms help make the markets stable, Kennedy said. Meanwhile, Gov. Bobby Jindal voiced support for efforts by the state's congressional delegation to defer the NFIP rate increases.

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency should keep the National Flood Insurance Program's administrative costs low and ensure that flood policies are in place for people required to have such coverage, The Times-Picayune's editorial board argues. Doing so is necessary to keep the NFIP "financially sustainable over the long term and keep rates down for policyholders," the editorial board writes.

A letter from 13 parish presidents in Louisiana called on Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and David Vitter, R-La., to support a House-approved amendment that would prevent the Federal Emergency Management Agency from implementing some flood insurance rate increases under the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. The looming rate increases would prompt many property owners in the state to cancel their coverage, "decreasing home values, depressing the real estate market and drastically increasing rental rates," the parish presidents said in the letter.

David Miller, associate administrator of the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration, told officials in Louisiana that levees would be taken into account during revisions of the state's flood maps. "He indicated to us that they will give credit to local levees, but of course we don't know yet whether that's our salvation," said Michel Claudet, president of Terrebonne Parish.

Louisiana's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority is poised to spend $640.3 million for 117 projects to rehabilitate coastal areas and improve flood protection under a $767.3 million annual plan adopted for fiscal 2014. Residents in areas at risk of a 100-year flood are facing gradual but significant increases in flood insurance rates, said Ross Richardson of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal warned residents in New Orleans and other low-lying communities of possible flooding because of heavy rains brought by Tropical storm Ida. The Corps of Engineers assured the state its flood barriers are adequate to mitigate the risks even as a 1,000-foot stretch of the Grand Isle levee already collapsed in the storm's wake.